— “Your colleague? Uh… who are you talking about? You’re the only cop I know, you know.”
George Stacy smiled.
— “Oh yeah, that’s right. Her name is Yuri Watanabe. She’s a very close colleague of mine… and a very competent one!”
Spider-Man nodded slightly.
— “Oh, alright, I see. Go ahead, then. I’m heading out. I’ll let you deal with the other two, and keep me posted about Tombstone.”
— “No problem, you can leave without worrying. For now, I’m going to see where this lead takes us. We’ll talk about it again when the time is right.”
Peter simply nodded in agreement before turning around, leaving George Stacy and the other police officers to handle the rest of the operation as well as the two criminals he had just neutralized.
Now that the situation was under control, another concern immediately returned to his mind: Gwen and the way their outing had come to such an abrupt end.
— “Is Gwen still there…? Maybe she’s still waiting for me?”
Without wasting any more time, Peter swung between the buildings and quickly made his way back toward the café where he had left Gwen.
Despite how much time had passed since his departure, a small part of him still hoped to find her sitting at their table, perhaps annoyed or even angry, but still there.
However, when he finally arrived near the terrace and looked around, that hope immediately vanished: the table they had occupied a few hours earlier was now empty.
Gwen was gone, which, deep down, wasn’t surprising at all after the way he had abandoned her in the middle of their conversation.
— “Yeah… how did I actually think she’d still be waiting after I ditched her like that? I’m seriously the king of idiots.”
He remained still for a few seconds, staring at the chair Gwen had been sitting in not long ago.
Then he looked away and continued on his way, his heart filled with guilt.
Parker Residence — Late Afternoon
When he returned home a little later, Peter walked through the front door and instinctively glanced around the house, almost expecting to hear his aunt’s voice answering him from another room.
— “Aunt May?”
His voice echoed through the house, but no answer came.
The silence throughout the different rooms quickly made him realize that May hadn’t come home from work yet.
— “Looks like Aunt May isn’t home yet…”
Peter headed straight upstairs to his bedroom, where he carelessly tossed his bag into a corner before sitting down on the edge of his bed.
Now that he was finally alone and the chaos of the past few hours was behind him, all the thoughts he had been trying to push aside immediately came rushing back.
He let out a long sigh, staring blankly ahead, unable to find a solution to the problem that had been occupying his mind ever since his conversation with Gwen.
— “Honestly… I’ve looked at this from every possible angle and I still don’t know what to do. Gwen asked me if I was Spider-Man… and she looked serious. That look in her eyes… it was almost like she was already sure.”
Peter eventually lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling for a while, mentally replaying their conversation and every argument Gwen had brought up.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized that simply denying it probably wouldn’t be enough to make her suspicions disappear.
She had known him for far too long and had already noticed enough coincidences to convince herself that something wasn’t right.
— “No matter what I say, I feel like she’ll keep believing what she wants. On the other hand… I want to tell her the truth. Tell her everything. The spider bite… the fights… and why I do all of this.”
Lost in thought, Peter shifted slightly on his bed and his eyes fell on a familiar object sitting on his nightstand.
It was a small picture frame containing a photograph of him alongside his Uncle Ben.
At the sight of it, Peter remained silent for a few moments before slowly sitting up and reaching out to pick it up.
He stared at the photograph for a long time, his eyes distant, as though simply seeing his uncle’s face again might help him bring some order to all the questions racing through his mind.
— “Uncle Ben… I’m lost. Gwen is my best friend and… and I think I really love her. What should I do…?”
Peter continued staring silently at the photograph, almost as if he hoped an answer would somehow come to him just by looking at his uncle’s face.
Of course, nothing happened.
After several seconds, he let out another sigh, deeper this time, accompanied by a small, sad laugh at his own reaction.
— “…Why am I waiting for an answer? How could he even give me one?”
Despite the obvious answer, Peter didn’t immediately put the frame back down.
His gaze remained fixed on the photograph as countless memories gradually began resurfacing in his mind.
— “Ever since I was little, I always turned to him. And he always knew exactly what to say whenever I was lost.”
A memory gradually resurfaced in Peter’s mind, taking him several years into the past, back to a time when everything still seemed much simpler.
The sun bathed the Parker family’s backyard in a pleasant light as Peter and his uncle spent the day playing baseball together in a cheerful, relaxed atmosphere.
After countless failed attempts, Peter had finally managed to hit the ball somewhat properly and didn’t even try to hide how proud he was of himself.
— “YEAH! Did you see that, Uncle Ben?!”
Ben watched his nephew with amusement, his arms crossed and a proud smile on his face.
— “Nice one, champ!”
His smile, however, quickly turned into a slight grimace when he remembered everything that had come before that successful hit, especially the few bits of damage Peter had caused around the backyard during his many attempts.
— “But… you did break a window and it took you twenty-seven tries to get there…”
— “Uh… yeah, but that’s because I wasn’t focused!”
— “Right… of course.”
— “But it’s true!”
Faced with Peter’s insistence, Ben couldn’t hold back his smile any longer.
Rather than continue teasing him, he decided to show him directly what he could improve.
— “Hold on, I’ll show you how it’s done.”
Ben stepped behind his nephew and began by correcting the way he held the bat before slightly adjusting the position of his arms and legs.
Peter, who until then had been convinced that all he needed to do was hit the ball as hard as possible, listened carefully.
— “This is how you need to hold a bat… and position yourself.”
Still calm and patient, Ben took the time to show him exactly how to position himself properly and, more importantly, how to put his entire body into the motion so he could transfer more power into the bat at the moment of impact.
Peter carefully followed each of his instructions, trying his best to reproduce the stance his uncle had just shown him.
— “Alright. You understand what to do?”
— “Uh… yeah! I think…”
— “Okay! Then three… two… one… here it comes!”
The ball flew toward him and Peter instinctively closed his eyes as he swung, already expecting another failed attempt.
However, the sharp crack of the bat making perfect contact with the ball immediately made him open his eyes again.
The ball had gone much farther than on any of his previous attempts, and Peter spent a second watching its trajectory before turning toward his uncle with excitement he couldn’t possibly contain.
— “WHOA! Did you see that?!”
— “Of course I saw it, champ!”
They both immediately raised their hands and proudly high-fived each other to celebrate Peter’s success.
Their moment was interrupted a few moments later when a familiar voice reached them from inside the house.
— “Honey? Peter? Come eat!”
Peter immediately turned his head toward the house, instantly recognizing his aunt’s call.
— “Oh! Looks like the food’s ready!”
— “Yep! Come on, let’s go. Can’t wait to see what your aunt made.”
Ben then crouched down in front of Peter so he could climb onto his back before standing up again with his nephew holding onto him.
Still in a good mood after their game, the two of them headed back into the house laughing together, leaving behind the baseball equipment and the traces of their many attempts in the backyard.
Once they were seated around the table, that same light and family atmosphere continued throughout the meal.
May, curious to know how their game had gone, turned her attention toward Peter.
— “So, Peter, was the baseball game fun?”
— “Yeah! At first I was struggling… but now I think I got it.”
— “Let’s just hope next time you don’t break the living room window, hahaha…”
May gave him a smile that seemed perfectly innocent at first glance, but Peter immediately understood its true meaning when she brought up the damage he had caused earlier.
Peter instantly looked away, clearly preferring not to dwell on the subject.
Quickly searching for a way to change the conversation, he turned his attention toward his uncle and spent a few seconds watching him curiously.
After what had just happened in the backyard, a question crossed his mind.
— “Uncle Ben… how do you always know what the right advice is? For sports, school… and everything else. What’s your secret?”
May looked at Peter gently, amused by how seriously he had asked the question.
— “Oh, Peter… there’s nothing secret or magical about it.”
Peter frowned slightly, clearly unable to understand what she meant.
To him, his uncle always seemed to know what to say and what to do whenever he needed help, which made May’s explanation difficult to accept.
Seeing the confusion forming on his nephew’s face, Ben decided to take over.
— “Your aunt’s right, Peter. It’s not as incredible as you imagine. If I’ve been able to give you good advice, it’s because most of the things you’ve asked me about, I’ve already experienced myself. Not all of them, but almost.”
Peter remained silent at that explanation, his eyebrows slightly furrowed as he tried to understand what it meant.
He had always imagined that his uncle simply had some natural ability to find the right answers, so learning that it all came down to things he had personally lived through wasn’t really what he had expected to hear. This story is hosted at novelping.com.
His confusion was so obvious that Ben had no trouble noticing it.
— “What I mean is that it’s through experience and the things we live through that we gain knowledge. It helps us figure out what the best choice might be for us. But it all depends on the situation. Sometimes, it’s easy to know what to do. Other times, it’s complicated, or even impossible. And do you know what you have to do in those moments?”
— “Uh… no…?”
— “Well… you make the choice you believe is best, and you hope you won’t regret it.”
Peter remained speechless for a few seconds.
He had expected to hear something impressive, some kind of foolproof advice his uncle had been keeping in reserve, so the simplicity of what he had just been told completely caught him off guard.
His expression gradually shifted from surprise to confusion, before a hint of disappointment finally appeared in his eyes.
— “That’s… that’s a bad answer.”
Ben didn’t seem offended in the slightest by his nephew’s reaction.
On the contrary, he almost seemed amused by it.
— “Yeah, Peter. Life isn’t simple. Sometimes you’ll know right away what to do. Other times, you’ll be lost, you’ll think about it for hours, days, maybe even months… and you’ll still be uncertain. I know you don’t like it, but that’s just how it is.”
This time, Peter didn’t answer.
His gaze drifted into the distance for a few moments as he thought about his uncle’s words, still trying to find a more satisfying answer hidden behind what he had just heard.
Ben let him think for a few seconds before speaking again in the same calm, fatherly voice.
— “Listen. It’s normal that you don’t understand it right away. These are things you’ll understand as you grow up and experience them yourself. We’re not omniscient, Peter. All we can do is try our best. So don’t overthink it too much, okay?”
Peter eventually accepted the explanation, even though his expression clearly showed that he was still far from satisfied with that reality.
— “…That sucks.”
Ben burst out laughing at his nephew’s particularly direct conclusion before giving him an affectionate smile.
— “Hahaha! I know, champ. Come on, eat before it gets cold.”
May, who had been listening to the entire conversation from the beginning, immediately redirected both boys’ attention toward the plates in front of them, slightly offended that her meal seemed to have taken a back seat.
— “Yes, eat! I spent time making all of this!”
The memory gradually faded and Peter found himself alone in his bedroom once again, still holding the frame containing the picture of his uncle.
For a few moments, he remained motionless as he stared at his face, realizing with a certain bitterness that all these years later, he finally understood what Ben had been trying to explain to him that day.
He wished there were an obvious answer to his problem with Gwen, something that would guarantee he made the right choice without putting their relationship or her safety at risk, but that perfect choice simply didn’t exist.
Just as his uncle had told him years ago, all he could do was try to choose what seemed like the best decision and hope he wouldn’t come to regret it.
Faced with that conclusion, Peter let out a long sigh filled with nostalgia.
— “…That sucks.”
Midtown High — The Next Day — Afternoon
The bell signaling the end of class rang throughout the room and, almost in unison, the students began packing up their things.
The silence that had filled the room only seconds earlier quickly disappeared beneath the sounds of pencil cases being closed, bags being filled and chairs scraping against the floor, while the first conversations had already started again among the students eager to leave the classroom.
— “Don’t forget to review the chapters in your textbook! There might be a test, so keep that in mind if you don’t want to get a zero!”
As the students began heading toward the exit, the teacher quickly scanned the room before calling out to Peter and Gwen, stopping them just before they could follow their classmates into the hallway.
— “Parker! Stacy! Stay for a moment, please. I need to tell you something.”
Peter and Gwen stopped and waited while their classmates gradually left the room.
Within moments, the conversations faded into the hallway and the classroom became quiet again, soon leaving only the two teenagers facing their teacher.
— “Yes? What did you want to talk to us about, sir?” Gwen asked.
— “Do you remember the visit to researcher Curtis Connors, less than a year ago?”
— “Yes, of course I remember,” Gwen replied.
Peter let out a slight laugh.
— “Same here. It’s kind of the sort of field trip you don’t forget.”
A small smile appeared on the teacher’s face when he realized that the visit had clearly left an impression on both students.
— “That’s good to hear. Then I have some news you might like.”
— “Really? What is it?” Gwen asked.
— “Mr. Connors is looking for students to help him and follow his work. He wants passionate and curious students, and I recommended the two best students in the school. That means you two, and he agrees.”
At that announcement, Peter couldn’t hide his surprise.
The idea of being able to work directly alongside a researcher like Curtis Connors was enough to make all restraint disappear.
— “What?! Are you serious?” Peter asked, struggling to believe it.
— “Very serious, Parker. In fact, you start today.”
Peter’s enthusiasm immediately gave way to a much more confused expression, caught off guard by how sudden the news was.
— “Huh? Today? Like… right now??”
— “Exactly!”
Gwen broke into a huge smile.
— “Wow… that’s amazing! Thank you so much for thinking of us.”
— “Don’t thank me. You’ve always been exemplary students. You deserve it. Well, even if one of you is often late…”
Peter immediately understood that the remark was aimed at him and let out a small embarrassed laugh, unable to argue with it.
— “One for the teacher, zero for you, Peter…”
— “Come on, hurry up so you don’t arrive late. Enjoy yourselves and learn everything you can from Professor Connors.”
— “You can count on us!” Peter replied enthusiastically.
Peter and Gwen eventually left the classroom before walking out of the school and heading together toward the bus stop.
However, the excitement caused only moments earlier by their teacher’s announcement quickly faded once they found themselves alone.
Neither of them said a word and, as they walked side by side, an increasingly heavy discomfort settled between them.
Since their argument, an unusual distance had formed, turning even the slightest silence into something much harder to ignore.
— “It’s been a week since our argument. She still isn’t talking to me, and every time I try to say something to her, I freeze.”
Peter let out a quiet sigh while glancing toward Gwen.
He knew perfectly well that he couldn’t keep pretending nothing had happened and, above all, that he at least owed her an apology after the way he had left her alone last time.
— “I have to fix this. I need to apologize for leaving her like that.”
Finally gathering his courage, Peter took a small breath before turning his head toward her, determined to break the silence that had lasted far too long.
— “Uh, Gwen, I…”
However, he didn’t get the chance to go any further.
The bus arrived at that exact moment and stopped in front of them.
Without giving him the slightest glance, Gwen immediately stepped aboard, leaving Peter behind with the words he hadn’t managed to say.
He followed her in silence and the two of them walked through the bus before sitting near the back, in an almost empty section where no one was likely to disturb the already heavy atmosphere between them any further.
Sitting side by side at the back of the bus, Peter and Gwen remained immersed in an uncomfortable silence for a while, accompanied only by the hum of the engine and the muffled sounds of traffic outside.
Peter regularly glanced briefly in her direction, desperately searching for the best way to start the conversation, while Gwen kept her eyes facing forward.
Finally, unable to tolerate the distance any longer, he gathered his courage and decided to break the silence.
— “Gwen… can we talk?”
— “I’m listening.”
— “Last week when we went out… you… you remember…?”
— “Yes. I remember.”
Gwen’s particularly cold tone caught Peter off guard.
He had obviously expected her to still be upset with him, but certainly not to hear that much distance in her voice.
— “Oh my god… she’s being super cold!”
— “I wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t have left you like that and run off. I’m sorry. It’s just that I really had to go and I—”
— “And where exactly did you have to go? I’m asking, but I’m not expecting an answer. We were out together, and you left to do who-knows-what. Well… even though I do have my own little idea.”
Peter sighed.
— “Gwen… I’ve already told you: I’m not Spider-Man. I still don’t understand how you can think that.”
— “Don’t pretend you don’t understand, Peter. I explained my reasons to you and you… left. Leaving… that’s all you did.”
Peter couldn’t immediately find anything to say in response.
He could clearly see that Gwen wasn’t simply blaming him for leaving: behind her irritation was genuine hurt, and the longer the conversation went on, the more he understood just how deeply his behavior had affected her.
— “I know… and I’m sorry. Really… sorry. Would you… please forgive me…?”
Gwen hesitated, unable to answer him immediately.
For a few seconds, she slightly looked away, as though one part of her wanted to accept his apology while another refused to let go of what she was feeling so easily.
— “I… I don’t know.”
That answer hit him like a punch.
Peter quickly searched for something to say.
Gwen gently shook her head.
That wasn’t what she wanted from him and, at that moment, Peter understood that the problem went much deeper than one ruined outing.
— “Peter… it’s not so much the fact that you left that hurt me. I mean, yeah, it pissed me off. But what really hurt me is that you’re lying to me. Do you remember our promise? The one where we swore we’d always tell each other the truth, no matter what?”
At the mention of that promise, Peter felt his guilt grow even heavier.
He no longer had any doubt about how serious the situation was.
Despite all of Gwen’s efforts to contain her emotions, the pain was clearly visible on her face, and the simple fact that she was bringing up such an important memory from their childhood was enough to make him understand just how betrayed she felt.
— “…Yeah. I remember,” Peter replied softly.
— “I don’t know about you, but to me, that promise means a lot. Do you know why?”
Peter slowly shook his head without taking his eyes off Gwen.
She held his gaze for a few seconds, her eyes slightly glossy, before continuing in a voice that was still composed, but now much more fragile.
— “When we were ten, I was being bullied. I was terrified. I didn’t dare tell the teachers or my dad. I tried to endure it, but it kept getting worse. You were the one who kept pushing me, again and again, until I finally broke down. That day, you held me in your arms, told me I could tell you anything and that you’d be there for me. So I told you everything.”
As she spoke, the memories began resurfacing in Peter’s mind as well.
He gradually lowered his eyes, unable to find anything to say.
Gwen, meanwhile, continued despite the emotion making her voice tremble slightly, determined to make him understand why all of this mattered so much to her.
— “After that, you told the teachers, then my dad, and everything became a mess. I was afraid it would get worse, but you promised you’d be there and protect me if you had to. It took weeks, but everything worked out. From that moment on, I thought: ‘That’s it? All I had to do was talk about it?'”
She gave a slight nostalgic smile despite the sadness inside her.
— “And that’s when you told me: ‘No more lies. Always the truth, okay?'”
Peter felt his throat tighten.
— “And it was true. We told each other everything. Whenever I saw you, my eyes would light up and… and I think that might even have been when I fell in love with you.”
At those words, Peter abruptly looked up at her.
Any attempt to respond vanished before it could even leave his lips.
He simply remained there, deeply shaken by what he had just heard, while Gwen’s confession continued echoing through his mind.
— “So yes, leaving me the way you did hurt me. But the worst part is that I feel like that promise doesn’t mean the same thing to you that it means to me. And that… that really hurts.”
As she spoke those final words, Gwen could no longer completely hold back her emotions.
Her reddened eyes became glossy and, despite all her efforts to keep herself together, a tear eventually rolled slowly down her cheek.
Peter remained frozen in front of her, deeply shaken by what he had just heard.
He knew he had hurt Gwen, but he had never imagined that his silence could make her question something that meant so much to her.
He parted his lips, searched for the right words for a few seconds, then finally tried to answer in a hesitant voice.
— “Gwen… I didn’t know that… I… I’m really—”
He didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence.
The bus suddenly slowed down before stopping at their destination, cutting the conversation short at the worst possible moment.
Gwen immediately looked away and took a deep breath, trying to regain control of her emotions before standing up.
— “We’re here. We need to get off.”
Without waiting any longer, Gwen hurriedly left her seat and headed toward the exit of the bus, discreetly wiping away the tears that continued to run down her cheeks.
Peter remained seated for a fraction of a second, still shaken by the conversation, before standing up as well and following her outside.
Once off the bus, Gwen didn’t slow down and hurried straight toward the entrance of the laboratory, clearly determined to put some distance between them.
— “Gwen! Wait!”
She kept walking anyway, leaving Peter several meters behind her.
He watched her move away with a growing weight in his chest, fully realizing the extent of what he had caused.
— “Fuck… I really screwed up.”
Overwhelmed by embarrassment and guilt, Peter remained motionless for a few moments, unable to follow her immediately.
Nervous and completely unsure of what to do, he ran his hands through his hair while trying to put his thoughts in order, but Gwen’s words wouldn’t stop circling through his mind.
— “I remembered that promise, but I never realized how much it meant to Gwen. And now she tells me she’s been in love with me since that day? I should be happy, but… I think I’m completely lost right now.”
Torn between guilt, surprise and everything that confession had just awakened inside him, Peter remained lost in thought for a few more seconds before taking a deep breath.
He couldn’t deal with all of this right now, no matter how important it was.
First, he had to catch up with Gwen and focus on the reason they were here.
— “Alright… I’ll think about it later. Right now, I need to catch up with her. And meet Professor Connors.”
New York — Connors Laboratory — Day
After pulling himself together, Peter headed toward the building as well and quickly walked inside.
The moment he entered, he spotted Gwen a little farther away, already standing with three people: a woman, a young boy and Professor Curtis Connors.
Trying to put aside everything that had just happened between them on the bus, Peter approached the small group while slightly catching his breath.
— “Hello!”
The man turned toward him with a warm smile.
— “Hello! You must be Peter Parker?”
— “Yes. That’s me, sir.”
— “Perfect! You’re on time, that’s already a good start. Your teacher told me you’re often late… I hope you’ll be able to fix that.”
Peter smiled politely.
Even though, internally, the remark annoyed him a little.
— “Your name sounds familiar… weren’t you the one who got bitten by our spider during a school visit?”
The question slightly caught Peter off guard.
After everything that had happened since that infamous bite, hearing Connors bring up the incident so casually felt strangely awkward to him.
— “Yeah, yeah. That was me.”
— “Incredible. You seem to be doing much better. That day, we thought you were about to throw up your entire stomach.”
— “Honestly, I wasn’t far from it.”
Curtis let out a slight laugh before continuing the introductions, gesturing toward the two people standing near him.
— “And anyway… welcome to our laboratory. This is my wife, Martha, who’s also my assistant. And our son Billy, who joins us from time to time during our research.”
Peter immediately turned toward Martha and Billy, taking the time to greet them as politely as he could.
— “It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”
Martha gave him a kind smile.
— “No need to be so formal, Peter. But it’s sweet, it shows you’re polite.”
Peter gave her a sincere smile before turning his attention toward Billy, who already seemed much more enthusiastic about meeting the newcomer.
— “And same for you. Nice to meet you, Billy.”
— “You too! I hope you’ll like our lab.”
Peter then looked around the room.
Despite his previous visit, the various scientific devices, installations and everything surrounding him were still enough to instantly awaken his curiosity.
— “Don’t worry… I already love it!”
The answer drew a few laughs from the small group and immediately relaxed the atmosphere.
Gwen, however, remained silent.
Peter noticed almost instantly and his smile faded slightly.
Their conversation on the bus came back to him and, with it, the guilt he was trying so hard to push aside.
— “Alright, now that the introductions are done, I’m going to have to leave you. I need to go finish something. Honey, I’ll let you show them around… well, show them around again, because a few things have changed. There’s nothing planned for today, so there’s no need to keep them too long.”
— “Alright, honey.”
Martha turned toward her son.
— “Billy, you can keep playing your game, but not for too long.”
— “Yes, Mom!”
Billy immediately went to sit on a nearby chair, picked up his handheld console and put on his headphones before becoming completely absorbed in his game, while Martha turned toward Peter and Gwen to begin the tour.
— “Alright then… let’s start over there. Follow me.”
While Martha led the two teenagers through the laboratory, Curtis returned to his office and carefully closed the door behind him, isolating himself from the others.
Once alone, he pulled out a syringe containing a strange greenish liquid and, without the slightest hesitation, plunged the needle into his arm before injecting its contents.
A few moments later, a violent wave of dizziness seized him and suddenly blurred his vision.
His body reacted almost immediately to the substance and, for a brief moment, his eyes transformed, taking on the disturbing appearance of a lizard’s.
TO BE CONTINUED.
Thank you for reading so far!
This project has been in development for a long time, and seeing people read and enjoy it means a lot to me.
There is still a lot more to come, and I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of Peter’s journey.
— YL